6th Sunday of Easter A - Homily 5

Homily 5 - 2023

Mothers’ Day provides a good context to tease out some of the issues raised in today’s Gospel passage:

As a child of six or seven I used to sleep out on our closed-in back verandah. I remember still how, each night, before settling down to sleep, I used to call out to mum to come and tuck me in. It had to be mum. Dad would not do. And poor mum would interrupt what she was doing and come out and duly tuck me in. She would say a little home-made prayer as she tucked in the blankets — and in no time I would be off to sleep.

The word “Advocate” in today’s Gospel passage translates the greek word Paraclete. But Advocate is a somewhat functional translation that tends to miss the warmth also conveyed by the original word. A Paraclete can be one who answers the call and comes to the side of another — as mothers tend to do.

In today’s Gospel the author wrote of two paracletes. Jesus was one; and one whom he called “the Spirit of Truth” was the other one. He said of the spirit of Truth, “He is with you, he is in you”. He then said also of himself, “You are in me and I in you.” Finally, in relation to the Father, he went further, “I am in my Father and you in me and I in you”. So — not just called to the side of.., but mysteriously in-dwelling. Words here are being pushed beyond their limits.

Yet how else can we talk about realities like love, intimate love — as intimate as we can get, especially God’s love? Perhaps the best way, even only way, is to get out of our heads and use metaphor, paradox, even poetry. And John the Evangelist, the poet and mystic, is just the one to do it. His purpose in writing his Gospel was to lead his readers to ponder more deeply on their experience of the risen Jesus, their relationship with him and of its consequences for their lives of discipleship.

“You are in me and I in you”…, “He is with you, he is in you”… And, “I am in my Father and you in me and I in you”… Not just relationships, but super-relationships — not just real, but super-real!

Towards the end of today’s short passage, John has Jesus saying, “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be the one who loves me”. When Jesus speaks of commandments being“received and kept”, he is speaking of more than rules made up by himself and to be observed under threat. What he would dearly want us freely and gratefully to “receive” and treasure are the vision, the goals and the values that inspired him during his life. He wants us to experience life as he did — as he put it, “because I live, you will live”. To the extent that we love him and admire him, we will dearly want to live as he did, particularly to love one another as he has loved us.

“The Spirit of truth”… the one who puts us in touch with what is most real… who opens our eyes to a world saturated with the loving close-up presence of God… and empowers us to respond
joyfully.